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Volume 15, No. 01
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Attorney General Candidates Speak Out, Page A4
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AllOTSEGO.com, OTSEGO COUNTY’S DAILY NEWSPAPER/ONLINE
Oneonta, N.Y., Thursday, October 20, 2022
COMPLIMENTARY
Glimmerglass Film Days Marks Tenth Year By TARA BARNWELL
This year, Glimmerglass Film Days is offering five days of independent films, filmmaker talks, art, parties, live music and events. The films will be screened at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Fenimore Art Museum, The Farmers’ Museum, Templeton Hall and the Cooperstown Village Hall. “Connection is the theme this year,” Ellen Pope, executive director of Otsego 2000, said. “After two years of the pandemic and social isolation, we thought a lot about what the theme should be. The film festival used to be about not just great films but the social and human connection of watching films together. We didn’t have that for two years, so we wanted to focus on how important connection is—the human connection, connecting the dots between humans and climate and nature.” “This year we started a submission process on Film Freeway. It’s a data-
Otsego 2000 Executive Director Ellen Pope shows off this year’s Film Days poster, designed by Doreen DeNicola with photo by Mike Reynolds.
base where filmmakers can put their films out there for festivals to review and hopefully choose,” Pope said. “We got 1,000 films submitted from all around the world through the Film Freeway process. The submissions were from all genres. We got some shorts from these submissions. A short is a film that is usually less than 40 minutes,” Pope explained.
According to Pope, the film selection process is complex. “Peggy Parsons, artistic director, is very attuned to all of the different festivals that we would select films from and that would be appropriate for our festival,” Pope said. “She’s been scouting films for this year.” “Joey Katz, our programmer, is also involved in the selection process. He brings a different, eclectic feel. We think there will be something for everyone this year. Peggy and Joey are really the experts at seeking out the films, she added. This year will also bring 17 or 18 special guests to the festival. “They are filmmakers, directors, producers—some are people that actually appear in the films,” Pope said. “We’ll have live musicians as well. We’re excited that locals will be performing; Evan Jagels and his partner, Nicole Brancato, who formed the group Duo Extenpore, will be Continued on page 8
Photo by Beatriz de la Torre
Coop Vendors, Officials: 2022 a ‘Good Year’ By CASPAR EWIG
Photo by Caspar Ewig
Cooperstown Patrolman Brad Ross prepares the parking meters for winter.
INSIDE ► Used Bikes and sewing machines? check out story on page A4 ► A FEW THOUGHTS ON IMPORTANT THINGS: World Polio Day on October 24; SUNY Oneonta’s new president, Alberto Cardelle, gives inspiring speech; workforce well-being, pages A4, A5
Now that the parking meters have received their winter covers, it is time to assess the results of summer 2022 in Cooperstown. The meters, which spring into function on Memorial Day and fall into disuse on Columbus Day, as well as the trolley ridership from the parking lots that surround Cooperstown, represent a good barometer of the town’s commercial health. Using that yardstick as a guide, this summer has proved to be a
To Barn or Not to Barn … By HELEN K. B. REES
The Swart-Wilcox Barn Committee met on Monday, October 3 to discuss the possibility of a barn for the Swart-Wilcox House Museum complex. There had been a barn on the property from the 1790s until 1968. At that time it was burned down by the City ► new time out page: a compila- as a fire-fighting exercise. It is now felt that a barn would help tell the tion of things to do and see in story of the early settlers, who were mainly our region, page A6 ► Columnist joins NAACP after farmers. Several factors have contributed to thoughts of a barn for the Swart-Wilcox Gretchen Sorin “Driving While Black” symposium, page A9 farm property. Finding an appropriate old barn, or Follow Breaking News On building a new barn with the old floor plan, is the first decision. OTSEGO.com In the early 1990s, Randy Crawford, the architect from Crawford and Stearns, held a meeting with a group of local men who had worked, when they were boys, for the Wilcox family. From their memories and
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good exit from the pandemic doldrums. Based on the parking income, Deputy Mayor Cindy Falk was quite encouraged that Cooperstown had bounced back. “In a good year, we expect gross parking income to reach $450,000. This year we collected $300,000 from the meters and $59,000 from the parking app,” Falk said. Although Falk noted that ridership on the trolley was down from 2019, she was of the opinion that this reflected an aversion to public transit which caused Continued on page 8
descriptions of the barn, it was determined that the barn was most likely an English swing arm threshing barn. This barn had been built by Lawrence Swart in the late 1790s after he had built his cabin, but before he built his house in 1807. Then, in his 1874 diary, Henry Wilcox records the process of moving the barn from the field behind the house. This moving process makes for interesting reading, as he describes the work of the move and the stone wall foundation. In closing, it should be noted that the Swart-Wilcox Museum needs a barn: 1) to complete the old Oneonta farmstead, as all early farms had barns and this was one of the first farms in the city of Oneonta. It was also the last working farm in the city of Oneonta. 2) to provide a welcome center for museum visitors Continued on page 8
Photo by David Hayes
A Fond Farewell to Fall Otsego County and Central New York are expected to hit peak leaf peeping season in the coming days, This year, shades of orange and yellow seem to be outshining the reds, as shown here. The top photo showcases Wilbur Park, the middle picture Huntington Park and, below, First United Presbyterian Church in Oneonta.
Photo by Kristina Hada
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD